Aftermath
by Milo Sebastian
Summary: Veronica doesn't reach Westerburg High in time to save the school from JD... how will she react?


Not gonna lie, this is my first Heather's fanfic, so I don't know how this is going to turn out. Apologies if it's god-awful.

-A.H.

* * *

Veronica ran to the school. She wasn't too late-she couldn't be. She couldn't have these deaths on her hands.

She ran, and then stopped. She saw a trail of smoke in the sky.

Right where the school was supposed to be.

She ran closer, her emotions catching in her throat. No... This wasn't happening.

She saw the school-well what was left of the school and fell to her knees. A son caught in her throat and she tucked her head down, forcing the tears not to fall down.

She was too late.

"Veronica?" She heard a voice she recognised too well.

"Get away from me!" She screamed, not bothering to stop the tears from falling thick and fast.

"Veronica-"

"No! You killed them-"

"VERONICA!" JD shouted, before realising how much Veronica was shaking. "Calm down. You're overreacting."

Veronica took a deep shaky breath, and was about to speak before she was interrupted.

"We can start and finish wars." JD sang softly. "We're what killed the dinosaurs,

We're the asteroid that's overdue,

The dinosaurs choked on the dust,

They died because God said they must,

The new world needed room for me and you."

Veronica wondered what JD meant by the dinosaurs, whether they held another meaning. He mentioned them far too much for it to be a coincidence.

"I worship you." JD was coming closer to her. "I'd trade my life for yours." He pulled her into his arms, and for the first time she wasn't afraid. This was her JD. No one else. Just her JD. The JD who'd sung a whole song devoted to slushies. She would have laughed, if they weren't standing by the rubble of Westerburg High. Westerburg High... Everyone was dead. The students, the teachers, everyone who didn't deserve to die, was dead.

"We'll burn away that tear, and raise our city here." JD wiped a solitary tear away from her cheek. "Our love is god." But this wasn't just her JD. It was also the JD that blew up he school. No... she couldn't stay here. Not with the school. Not with *him*.

"Veronica." JD said, noticing her reluctance. "What's going on?"

"I need some space." She said. "I just need... Time." She pulled away from him, and walked in the direction of her home. She wasn't going to look back. Not at JD. No, she was going to keep her resolve. She was going to be strong.

She ran into her bedroom and locked the door. She looked around the room and broke down. She fell to her knees and let the tears flow thick and fast, sons and whimpers erupting from her chest.

"Veronica?" She heard her parents call out. "Are you alright?" She ignored them. They wouldn't understand. They couldn't understand. No matter what they said.

They went away after a while and Veronica's tears dried up not long after. She wondered if she should've actually killed herself, instead of faking it. She wouldn't be in this mess, that was for certain.

She looked towards where the noose she'd used to pretend that she was dead to JD. Oh crap. She would have hell to pay for that.

A lyric of a fitting song fell into her head. "Veronica's running on running on fumes now

Veronica's totally fried

Veronica gonna be tripping on shrooms now

Thinking that she can hide

Veronica done for there's no doubt now

Notify next of kin

Veronica's trying to keep him out now

Too late

He got in."

Ghosts appeared in her room to sing along with her. Heather Chandler. Kurt. Ram. She wondered how long it would take the rest of the ghosts of the students of Westerburg High to find her and haunt her. Then she wondered how long it would take for her to get sick of it and kill herself to be free.

She heard footsteps up the stairs after words were spoken. The footsteps didn't belong to her parents. There was only one other person it could probably be.

"Veronica?" She heard the low tentative voice.

"JD?" She asked.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

She was about to deny him entrance but she realised he was the one she needed to talk to.

"Sure."

The handle rattled. "Can you unlock the door?" He asked.

She walked over to the door and wordlessly undid the lock. JD slipped into her room and shut the door behind him.

Veronica sat on the bed and JD followed her. "Veronica." He whispered softly. "What's wrong."

"You... Killed them." She choked out. "They're all... Dead. Because of you."

"They were hurting you."

"But that doesn't mean they deserved to die."

"But did they really deserve to live after what they've done? The world is a better place now they're not in it-you saw what happened when Heather, Kurt and Ram died."

"But there are so many more Heathers and Marthas, Kurts and Rams out there. We can't possibly hope to kill all of them and make the world "a better place"."

"We don't have to kill all of them. We don't have to kill any of them. We've freed this town, we don't have to go and do anything."

I looked at him. "Can't we be seventeen?" He sang softly.

"If we've still got the right." I joined in.

"So? What do you say?"

"I-i still need time. Those people *died* JD. I don't know if I can get over that, now or ever."

"We can try, Veronica, can't we?"

...

JD stayed over and I spent the night alternatively talking and not talking, whatever the mood told me to do.

The morning came and I walked downstairs, rubbing my eyes. The TV was on, the news blaring out.

"And we cut back with another update on Westerburg High. A suicide note has been discovered, signed by surprisingly the whole school. It reads "We the students of Westerburg High, will die. Our burnt bodies may finally get through, to you. Your society churns out slaves and blanks, no thanks. Signed the students of Westerburg High, goodbye." It contains what appears to be the signatures of all the students of Westerburg High. The police are yet to release an official statement. It appears that this could be a publicity stunt for the effects of society, but who knows what was going through the heads of all those teenagers at that time? What drove them to this? This is the third suicide by Westerburg High students, and the last. I wonder what this will lead to, for the future?"

I walked past, trying to clear those sounds from my head. I didn't want to hear anything more about the deaths of Westerburg High students. I wanted to move away, and not be a part of this anymore. If I owned a motorbike bike I could drive up to Seattle and change my name. But I didn't have that option available to me. I had to go out and face the day, the press.

I was the cause of this. I couldn't balk at my responsibility. Even if it did end up destroying me.

* * *

Would anyone like to read any more (I haven't actually written a part two but I can if there is enough demands for it, i.e. anyone thinks my writing or this plot is good enough), or should I just place this with all of my other pitiful writing attempts and burn it?


End file.
